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For some prisoners, especially those that have spent years or decades of their lives locked up, getting out comes with a mixture of overwhelming joy and anxiety.

They often want to start over, but don't know how to achieve that. They need somewhere to live, to work. They need counseling, but have limited resources. Some prisoners are released with only the clothes on their back, $10 to $200 and a bus ticket to the state line. Life on the outside can be a huge challenge -- so hard that many prisoners fail at it and end up back behind bars before long.

"Even the most commonplace kind of transactions can be anxiety-provoking," Ann Jacobs, director of the Prisoner Reentry Institute at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The Huffington Post. Basic tasks like not knowing how to use a metro card instead of tokens to ride the subway, or making a phone call on a smartphone instead of a pay phone can seem insurmountable.

That's why programs that help inmates re-enter society are critical. From state to state, re-entry programs vary. Not all states have them. And different branches of the criminal justice system have different ways of addressing re-entry, frequently leaving former inmates with few lifelines to help the rehabilitation process. But programs like these are trying to make a difference, starting from when an inmate is first incarcerated and following through to those initial hours when an ex-inmate is released and to the months that follow as they work to get their lives back on track.

In Louisiana, the state's Re-Entry Court program allows the state's younger inmates who qualify to learn a trade -- from plumbing to welding to culinary arts. It also provides them with hours of classes on anger management and communication. The state has also launched regional re-entry programs offering similar services to inmates in local prisons.

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. While officials say they have seen a decline in the prison population in the last few years, it's not clear just how much the re-entry programs in particular have contributed to that lower rate. Incarceration rates are affected by a myriad of laws, people, social issues and programs. But officials are still hopeful that they're making a difference.

"If I can save one person and have them go back in society, sleep at home and raise a family, we've done our jobs," said West Baton Rouge Sheriff Mike Cazes.

In California, San Quentin Prison -- one of the largest prisons in the country -- is offering college-level education to inmates through the Prison University Project, the largest in-prison college program in the California prison system.

Indeed, a 2013 study from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service found that in-prison college education programs did effectively lower recidivism rates. It also found that inmates who completed a college-based education program while incarcerated stayed crime-free longer than those who did not participate in the program.

Opponents say that such higher education programs in prison are not a proper use of taxpayer dollars. But advocates like Jacobs say the programs are "transformative" for inmates when they are released.

Prisoners hoping to receive college education may get a boost from the federal government soon. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Barack Obama plans to restore federal funding in the form of Pell Grants for inmates to take college courses in prison, part of his larger interest in reforming the country's criminal justice system.

"People who get a college education when they are inside or when they come out have almost non-existent recidivism," Jacobs said.

A National Research Council brief prepared from The Growth of Incarceration in the United States, a 2014 report studying trends in mass incarceration in the U.S, details the difficulties that prisoners face upon re-entry -- lower earnings, denial of jobs or work licenses, an inability to vote, and ineligibility for public housing, student loans, food stamps and more. Once released, the ex-offender is in dire need of support and encouragement.

Former inmates in Washington state have found that support at Pioneer Human Services, which provides a full suite of programs to thousands of ex-offenders annually. This includes treatment for substance use disorders, housing, job training, job interview training, apprenticeships, employment and, where appropriate, help getting their driver's licenses and voting rights back.

"Our case managers work around the clock to help people with all of their needs, as most of our staff has been incarcerated in their past life," Nanette Sorich, a spokesperson for Pioneer, told The Huffington Post. "After they get hired by any employer -- including Pioneer -- we have a case manager and job developer who works with them on their career path the first 12 months after they are hired to ensure their success."

Jacobs says a person's successful re-entry into society can be viewed through how adequately they are able to meet six basic life needs: livelihood, residence, family, health, criminal justice compliance and social connections. Those needs manifest differently, depending on the phase an inmate is in when they're released. Jacobs breaks these phases down into three categories: Survival, stabilization and self sufficiency. All these categories make up what she describes as the "Success in the Community" matrix:

But sometimes successful re-entry can begin with something as simple as giving a former inmate a ride.

Take the "Ride Home Program" from the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in California, which was recently profiled in The New York Times Magazine. It employs former inmates to pick up ex-prisoners on the day they are released to help guide them through the changed world.

ARC's drivers spend all day with the newly released prisoners -- they buy them food and some clothing, give them advice on finding work and getting a haircut, as well as help with calling family on smartphones or showing photos of family members on Facebook. In other words, they start to reintroduce them to the culture -- and being former inmates themselves, they can deliver that message in a uniquely empathetic way.

''The first day is everything,'' Carlos Cervantes, one of the ex-offenders who picks up newly released inmates, said about those sometimes frightening and overwhelming first 24 hours.

"It's a low-tech, commonsense human exchange that is good for all parties involved," Jacobs said about the ARC ride program. "In re-entry, you see people whose lives are raggedy and rough and desperate, and that's certainly part of it, but that doesn't mean that's who they are or what they are limited to."

While more research needs to be done on the long-term effects re-entry programs have on recidivism reduction, it appears that not all re-entry programs are equal in their efficacy, according to a 2008 examination of re-entry programs by Doris Layton MacKenzie, a professor of criminology at Pennsylvania State University and director of the school's Justice Center for Research.

MacKenzie found programs at the time covering a wide array of subjects -- from vocational education to electronic monitoring -- and found no "single explanation" for programs that weren't effective. But she speculated it could be due to something as simple as poor implementation. It also could be because the programs are focused on "punishment, deterrence, or control" or don't do enough to change the individual's thought process during the program course work.

Ex-offenders frequently just need more "compassion and understanding" from the criminal justice system, Jacobs said.

"It doesn't mean you excuse negative behavior," Jacobs explained. "Rather, it means you take people where they are in life and try to help equip them with the skills to make them more effective in their life."

Good re-entry programs will deliver new ways of thinking for the former inmate, Jacobs says, and frequently, simple, commonsense programs with a "human touch" make all the difference.
Are you an ex-convict who re-entered society successfully? Did you find help through an organization, a person, a program or something else? Write to matt.ferner@huffingtonpost.com and tell your story.

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These Programs Are Helping Prisoners Live Again On The Outside

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For some prisoners, especially those that have spent years or decades of their lives locked up, getting out comes with a mixture of overwhelming joy and anxiety. They often want to start over, but don't know how to achieve that. They need somewhere to live, to work.

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Higher Education in Prison Program | Guilford College

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Criminal justice officials across the country are struggling to break the recidivism cycle in which prisoners are released only to land right back behind bars. These prisoners are among the most poorly educated people in the country, and that fact holds the key to a solution. Decades of research has shown that inmates who participate in prison education programs - even if they fail to earn degrees - are far more likely to stay out of prison once they are freed.

That prison education programs are highly cost effective is confirmed by a 2013 RAND Corporation study that covered 30 years of prison education research. Among other things, the study found that every dollar spent on prison education translated into savings of $4 to $5 on imprisonment costs down the line.

Other studies suggest that prisons with education programs have fewer violent incidents, making it easier for officials to keep order, and that the children of people who complete college are more likely to do so themselves, disrupting the typical pattern of poverty and incarceration.

Findings like these have persuaded corrections officials in both Democratic and Republican states to embrace education as a cost-effective way of cutting recidivism. But Republican legislators in New York - which spends about $60,000 per inmate per year - remain mired in know-nothingism and argue that spending public money on inmates insults taxpayers. They have steadfastly resisted Gov. Andrew Cuomo's common-sense proposal for making a modest investment in prison education programs that have already proved highly successful on a small scale in New York's prisons.

The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., stepped into the void left by the Legislature when he agreed to pay for Governor Cuomo's prison education plan with more than $7 million in criminal forfeiture money secured from banks. Lauding what he described as a public safety measure, Mr. Vance said, "It makes no sense to send someone to prison with no pathway for them to succeed."

The goal of the program is to expand the number of inmates taking college courses to about 3,500 across much of the system from 1,000. The curriculum will be broad, covering science, math, philosophy, the social sciences and art. Among the schools that will participate are Cornell University, New York University, Mercy College and Bard College, which has run a highly regarded program since 2001. The recidivism rate is 4 percent for inmates who participate in the program and a mere 2 percent for those who earn degrees in prison, compared with about 40 percent for the New York State prison system as a whole.

Prison education programs were largely dismantled during the "tough on crime" 1990s, when Congress stripped inmates of the right to get the federal Pell grants that were used to pay tuition. The decision bankrupted many prison education programs across the country and left private donors and foundations to foot the bill for those that survived.

Despite limited and unreliable funding, these programs have more than proved their value. New York lawmakers who continue to block funding for them are putting ideology ahead of the public interest.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Let Prisoners Learn While They Serve. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Opinion | Let Prisoners Learn While They Serve

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Criminal justice officials across the country are struggling to break the recidivism cycle in which prisoners are released only to land right back behind bars. These prisoners are among the most poorly educated people in the country, and that fact holds the key to a solution.

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expands educational opportunities for inmates in 12California correctional facilities. With the assistance of 800 university student and faculty volunteers, PEP has serviced approximately 5,000 inmates in these facilities since 2011. PEP is the largest volunteer-based prison education program of its kind in the United States.

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The U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), an independent agency within the judicial branch which writes federal sentencing guidelines and studies federal crime and sentencing policies, earlier this month released a major new study, 'Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview'.

Drawing on data on more than 25,400 former inmates who were either released outright from federal prisons or placed on probation in 2005, the 60-page report found almost half (49.3%) had, within the next eight years, been arrested again, whether for a new offense or for violating conditions of their parole or release. Among the offenders released or paroled in 2005, during the same period nearly a third (31.7%) had been re-convicted, with 24.7% of them also re-incarcerated.

Re-arrest rates were higher (52.5%) for ex-prisoners who had been released than for those who had been gone on probation (35.1%). The research also showed there was typically that re-offenses occurred fairly quickly, generally within the first two years after release or parole (the average interval was about 21 months).

The variables with the strongest correlation to the likelihood of a future offense turned out to be a prisoner's age at the time of release and probation and previous criminal history - with likely recidivism increasing for younger prisoners and with every increase in criminal history.

Inmates who were released while younger than 21 showed the highest level of re-arrest (67.6%), while those who got out after age 60 had a re-arrest rate of 16%. The prisoners covered in the study averaged age 33 at time of sentencing and 36 at time of release. The study included 1,048 prisoners who were older than 60 when released or paroled, over 4% of the total.

Within the six categories of prior criminal history, former inmates in the lowest level re-offended at a 30.2% rate, while those in the highest level were re-arrested at an 80.1% rate. The type of past offenses and the prisoner's education level - which ran from 34.3% without a high school degree, 67.5% who had completed high school, 21.4% with some college, and 7.5% with college degrees - also had some effect on recidivism rates, but not as strongly as age and level of criminal history.

The most common crime for which released or paroled prisoners were likely to be re-arrested was assault (as was the case for about a quarter of recidivists). Among serious offenses, the other more frequent crimes on re-arrest were offenses against public order, drug trafficking and larceny.

Using a Bureau of Justice Statistic study finding inmates released from state prisons have a five-year recidivism rate of 76.6%, the USSC study calculated comparable federal prisoners released have a 44.7% re-arrest rate after five years.

The total population covered by the new study included 25,431 federal prisoners who were released or paroled in 2005 and were citizens, with trackable presentencing reports and criminal history records, who had not been reported dead, escaped or detained, and whose sentence had not been vacated. Male prisoners made up 81.7% of the total, and the racial composition of the study population was white 43.7%, black 33.9%, Hispanic 17.8% and other 4.5%.

The large-scale study, done by in-house USSC researchers, will be followed up by more detailed examinations of recidivism-related topics, starting later this year.

Christopher Zoukis is the author of College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons (McFarland & Co., 2014) and Prison Education Guide (Prison Legal News Publishing, 2016). He can be found online at ChristopherZoukis.com, PrisonEducation.com and PrisonLawBlog.com

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Report Documents U.S. Recidivism Rates for Federal Prisoners

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The U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), an independent agency within the judicial branch which writes federal sentencing guidelines and studies federal crime and sentencing policies, earlier this month released a major new study, 'Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview'.

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The majority of people in American prisons had significant education deficiencies upon arrival and would greatly benefit from educational services while incarcerated. The first step to this is granting all prisoners access to prison GED and high school courses, which would greatly improve post-release outcomes and reduce recidivism rates.

The benefits of GED and high school courses in prison

On a basic level, education teaches basic math, communication and logical reasoning skills. These skills are necessary to be functioning members of society, and the majority of prisoners have deficiencies in these areas.

Further, any level of education improves the chances of gaining employment, which is a necessity in our society.

So, GED and high school courses can significantly increase an inmate's chance at a successful future after incarceration, and help keep him or her out of prison for good. Studies indicate that this especially true for young people. A 2003 New York study concluded that obtaining a GED while in prison reduced the chances of those under 21 from returning to prison after release by 14 percent. For those over 21, it was 5 percent.

The efforts so far

There has been a lot more headway in reform aimed at GED access than other criminal justice efforts.

The ball really got rolling in 2003 when the Federal Bureau of Prisons recognized education's potential to decrease recidivism rates, and began requiring federal inmates without a high school diploma to study at least 240 hours toward getting their GED. The BOP followed this up by increasing financial support for GED programs.

Between 2002 and 2010, the number of federal inmates taking the GED while incarcerated doubled. Many states and cities followed suit with the Bureau of Prison's (BOP) efforts and saw similar increases. Over the same time period at the state level, the number of inmates taking the GED went from 18,000 to over 45,000. Locally, the increase was 4,100 to almost 13,000.

There have also been some recent efforts to increase access to high school classes. San Francisco created the first-ever charter school inside of a county jail, which won a school of the year award in 2014 and is spearheading programs that are being used in schools all around the state.

What still needs to be done

First, the BOP's requirement that federal inmates work toward their GED should be adopted by all facilities across the United States. The tremendous increase in inmates taking their GED following this legislation is proof that the mandate works well to boost educational experiences in prisons.

Next, GED courses need to be offered wherever possible, and the current programs need to be expanded because they are currently unable to accommodate everyone who wants to take them. A study released this year found that 18 percent of incarcerated adults specifically wanted to take high school or GED courses but could not, and 70 percent wanted to enroll in some form of education. Of those who wanted to enroll in a program, 25 percent were on a waitlist for services.

Ideally, correctional facilities should be providing high school courses for inmates as well. But it is difficult enough to find funding for GED courses with the high demand, and it is unlikely that high school classes will become common in prisons anytime soon.

So for now, the focus must be on making sure that all prisoners across the country work their way toward a GED if they do not have a high school background.

Takeaway

It's good news that more inmates have been granted access to GED services in the past decade, but we need to make sure that all inmates have this access. And, it would be even more ideal if inmates had access to actual high school courses as well.

Ending the costly cycle of mass incarceration has everything to do with education, and it starts with advancing literacy rates and job preparedness through basic high school level schooling. If this isn't being done before people enter prison, then it needs to happen during or the cycle will just continue.
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How Prison GED Courses Can Reduce Recidivism - [FKD]

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The majority of people in American prisons had significant education deficiencies upon arrival and would greatly benefit from educational services while incarcerated. The first step to this is granting all prisoners access to prison GED and high school courses, which would greatly improve post-release outcomes and reduce recidivism rates.